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Sir Robert Viner 1631 - 1688, supplied the regalia for the restoration of Charles II, and was appointed as the King's goldsmith in 1661. He was as much a banker as a goldsmith, and was knighted for his services in 1661.
To show his devotion Viner purchased a statue made in Italy for the Polish ambassador in London. It depicted King John Sobieski on a horse trampling a Turk. The ambassador could not afford to pay for it and Viner stepped in and had it altered to show Charles II trampling Cromwell. How much was altered is uncertain. Cromwell's image was clearly the less important of the two and he appears to be wearing a turban!
The statue was neither physically accurate, nor historically accurate, but it reflects a Restoration perception of Cromwell.
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The bizarre representation of Cromwell, under the horse's feet, is barely, if at all altered from the original Turk of the statue, bought second-hand by Viner. The statue was the subject of two satires sometimes attributed to Andrew Marvell A Poem on the statue in Stocks-Market and A dialogue between two horses.
From Morden and Lea's Prospects 1687 - 92.
(Courtesy of Guildhall Library, City of London).
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